


A Natural Progression

by glymr, irrelevant



Series: Sawdust and Spangles [7]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-23
Updated: 2010-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-08 21:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3224171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glymr/pseuds/glymr, https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrelevant/pseuds/irrelevant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years and miles go by. They outgrow acts and costumes and even beds, but never each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Natural Progression

**Author's Note:**

> This part is by irrelevant.

It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen over the course of a month, or even a year.  
  
It happens, Dick will think many years down more roads than he can count, the way natural progression always happens. With time.  
  
It starts with a circus trailer and a single bunk. Trailers don't have room for anything but essentials, and space is at a premium; the Graysons have one child, so they have one extra bed.  
  
Tommy is, from the beginning, a surprise. The best surprise ever, Mom says, but by their nature surprises don't come with warnings, which means that since there's only one bunk, Dick has to share with Tommy.  
  
Just for now, Dad says. Just a month or two.  
  
Actually, it's a year. And by the time they get around to building a second bunk above Dick's, neither Dick nor Tom likes sleeping alone. One of them always ends up crawling in with the other, and by morning they're a tangle of arms and legs in a single bunk.  
  
Mom throws her hands up and laughs. Dad just shakes his head and grins. And Dick and Tommy share their twin bunks between them, together.  
  
Then _it_ happens. In one night, their lives fall apart. Luckily, the nuns learn quickly that trying to separate them ends in screaming night terrors. Dick and Tommy are, for the most part, left to their own devices.  
  
Much later, after the orphanage and child services and Mr. Wayne, Simone shrugs her Gallic shoulders, and says, "It is what you need. Do not be ashamed of needing. It is what makes you human." And once again, there's a single bed.  
  
Years and miles go by. They outgrow acts and costumes and even beds, but never each other. Finally, they outgrow the trailer.  
  
They're not a rich family, but they take care of each other. _Flying Graysons_ the new trailer sitting next to Simone's declares.  
  
"You like it?" Anna curves an arm around Tom's waist; he's sixteen and finally an inch taller than she is. "Custom built."  
  
Simone cups Dick's face in her hands. "Your spirit lives in my heart," she says. "Your body needs a little more space."  
  
Dick and Tom grab Anna and Simone between them and hug them until they're all shrieking with laughter, their faces wet with tears. They all stay up late after moving Dick's and Tom's things. When Anna and Simone finally leave, Dick looks at their new bed.  
  
Singular. Built with two people in mind. It's bigger than anything they've ever slept in.  
  
"Dick?" Tom says, and his voice is shaky and Dick turns to see what's upsetting his little brother, and Tom--Tom kisses him. And Dick wonders why he never saw this, because Tom is three years younger, and he obviously did.  
  
Years and beds and roads, and Tommy. Natural progression.  
  
On the few occasions Dick stops to think about it, he can't see himself going in any other direction.


End file.
